Czech Republic

These images are from my trip to the Czech Republic in August and September 2017. My trip was mostly in Prague but also in an old medieval town in the south called Cesky Krumlov. Both places were extremely beautiful and filled with history. Prague, the capitol of the Czech Republic was incredible. The architecture was so interesting. From the bridges to the castle, from the towers to the banks of the river, it was all so beautiful. It was so cool to be in a place with so much history, from the Romans to World War II. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire. After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Besides Bohemia itself, the king of Bohemia ruled the lands of the Bohemian Crown, he had a vote in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor, and Prague was the imperial seat in periods between the 14th and 17th century. In the Hussite wars of the 15th century driven by the Protestant Bohemian Reformation, the kingdom faced economic embargoes and defeated five consecutive crusades proclaimed by the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church.
Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Protestant Bohemian Revolt (1618–20) against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years' War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, eradicated Protestantism and reimposed Roman Catholicism, and also adopted a policy of gradual Germanization. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Bohemian Kingdom became part of the Austrian Empire and the Czech language experienced a revival as a consequence of widespread romantic nationalism. In the 19th century, the Czech lands became the industrial powerhouse of the monarchy and were subsequently the core of the Republic of Czechoslovakia, which was formed in 1918 following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I.
Czechoslovakia remained the only democracy in this part of Europe in the interwar period. However, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war. The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup d'état, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence. In 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed and market economy was reintroduced. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004; it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe. It is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development. The Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate of EU members. I hope to go back again one day, especially to Cesky Krumlov as I only had one day there.
Cesky Krumlov is a small, extremely old town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic.The settlement arose beneath the castle, which was erected from about 1240 onwards by a local branch of the noble Vítkovci family, descendants of Witiko of Prčice. The fortress was first mentioned in a 1253 deed as Chrumbenowe. According to local legend, the name derives from Middle High German krumbe ouwe which can be translated as "crooked meadow", after a bend of the Vltava River. It was also mentioned in the 1255 Frauendienst poem by minnesinger Ulrich von Liechtenstein. Located at a ford of an important trade route in the Kingdom of Bohemia, a settlement arose soonafter beneath the castle. The Czech name Krumlov is documented as early as in 1259.
In 1302 the Vítkovci line became extinct and King Wenceslaus II ceded the town and castle to the Rosenberg family (Rožmberkové). Peter I of Rosenberg (d. 1347), the Lord Chamberlain of King John of Bohemia, resided here and had the present upper castle erected in the early 14th century. The majority of inhabitants were German-speaking at that time, immigrating from neighboring Austria and Bavaria in the course of the Ostsiedlung. A Jewish community is documented since 1334. By 1336, it can be expected that Czechs formed a small minority, which had its own priest.
The Rosenbergs strongly promoted trade and crafts within the town walls. In late 15th century, when gold was found next to the town, German miners came to settle, which shifted the ethnic balance even more. In one of the churches the sermons were preached in Czech until 1788, when St. Jošt Church was closed. William of Rosenberg (1535–1592), High Treasurer and High Burgrave of Bohemia, had the castle rebuilt in a Renaissance style.
In 1602 William's brother Peter Vok of Rosenberg (1539–1611) sold Krumlov to the Habsburg emperor Rudolf II, who gave it to his natural son Julius d'Austria. After the Bohemian Revolt and the 1620 Battle of White Mountain, Emperor Ferdinand II gave Krumlov to the noble House of Eggenberg and the town became seat of the mediate Duchy of Krumlov. From 1719 until 1945 the castle belonged to the House of Schwarzenberg.
There were 8,662 inhabitants in Krummau an der Moldau in 1910, including 7,367 Germans and 1,295 Czechs. After the First World War, the city was part of the Bohemian Forest Region which was initially declared to be part of German-Austria. By the end of 1918 the Czechoslovak army had occupied the region, which became part of Czechoslovakia. In 1938 it was annexed by Nazi Germany, as part of the Reichsgau Oberdonau unit of Sudetenland under the Munich agreement. After World War II the town's longstanding German-speaking population was expelled and it was returned to Czechoslovakia.